Two Pilfered Cows Back In Custody

August 16, 1999|By Marja Mills, Tribune Staff Writer.

Deering District police officers are used to seeing all kinds of characters brought in to their station. But even for these street-wise cops, the two colorfully painted cows in their protective custody this morning were a first.

The fiberglass creatures are part of the city's wildly popular "Cows on Parade" public art display, which has placed some 300 whimsically decorated bovines along Michigan Avenue and other strategic spots.

The two cows had been placed, appropriately enough, at the entrance to the former Chicago Union Stockyards, 900 W. Exchange Avenue. Police brought the cows to the station for safekeeping after both were moved, in separate incidents, from their concrete platforms.

No suspects have been caught in either case and police are keeping an eye on the third and only cow remaining in front of the stockyards, according to Deering District Sgt. Warren Richards.

One of the cows, painted yellow and red, was discovered missing Sunday morning. It was found later in the day in an alley in the 2800 block of South Archer Avenue. Another, decorated in pastels, was moved only a short distance from its base early this morning-about 15 minutes after midnight, Richards said. Police responded to a telephone call that the cow was being taken, and found it abandoned not far from its base, he said.

The two cows suffered minor damage by the hooves, where they had been bolted to their bases, and were being kept outside the Deering District cages where police store stolen bikes and other property. The cows were too large for the cages so they stood silent sentry outside them. City cultural officials arrived in a pick-up truck late this morning to retrieve them for repairs, Richards said.

And not a moment too soon. The presence of the cows proved irresistible to the crime-fighting punsters on the Deering force.

"All of us," said a chagrinned Richards. "You can't help it." So talk around the station this morning was of "moo-ving on it as quickly as we can," Richards said. Plus "beefing up patrols." "Steaking out" the scene. "We're worn out about that," he said.